News

2013-12-05

AMERICA/ARGENTINA - Violence and looting in Cordoba: for the Church these are criminal acts, not due to poverty

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - Because of the wave of violence that has ravaged the province, the new auxiliary Bishop of Cordoba, His Exc. Mgr. Pedro Javier Torres (appointed on November 16) has defined the violent acts as "situations of looting and criminality rather than acts carried out by a social movement because of hunger". "This has not happened because of poverty and the search for food - said the Bishop, according to the note sent to Fides Agency by a local source - but for the presence of criminality in the province".
The situation has become chaotic in Cordoba in response to a request for an adjustment of wages by the police, who locked themselves up in the barracks, leaving groups of vandals and criminals to plunder shops. In many cases, the thefts were committed with violence. Violent clashes occurred between the vandals and families who wanted to protect their own store.
Mgr. Torres, speaking to a local television station, denounced the local authorities for "the total abandonment of the province by the central government".
The Episcopal Conference of Argentina today sent a message to the Archbishop and to the population of Córdoba, expressing "sympathy and support for the serious acts that occurred in the province".
The text of the Permanent Council, sent to Fides Agency, says: "Let us pray to the Lord to give us serenity and calm in this time of Advent, and may Mary, Queen of Peace, protect all the people from Cordoba". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 05/12/2013)